Mortal Kombat: The Gathering
by MattSpy05
Summary: A reimagining of the Mortal Kombat Universe using some Cannon but mostly AU. It is the dawn of the Year of the Dragon 570, with the new year an event called "The Gathering" is held on a newly created realm. The Gathering is highlighted by a tournament between all the Pures. The winner of the tournament is named Protector of the new realm and is granted immortality.
1. The Dragon God

_Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, they're too good for me._

"The Elder Gods look down upon the scorching Universe. Of the millions of realms in existence almost all are at war with other realms or already destroyed. The Elder Gods can hear, even upon their lofted perch overlooking the Universe, they can hear the screams of mortals dying, they can see The Gods the ones that were supposed to protect the realms leading more mortals into battle and then destroying enemy mortals in the process. They can see Pures, the futures of the Universe being slaughtered by the Gods or by countless mortals who are sacrificing their existence to serve their God. They see slaves being raped and sacrificed in what are supposed to be gifts to them but do nothing but disgust them instead. The Elder Gods look upon their perch and realize they, alone with the one true being, The Creator, have failed the Universe. The Universe has no other fate than destruction and therefore the Elder Gods will destroy themselves instead of leaving to the hands of the Gods and the Pures that have betrayed them.

As the Elder Gods meet in their assembly hall that rests upon their perch they look up to the heavens and shed their bodies. With their souls finally free of their carriers they form their souls together to form a powerful celestial force...a dragon. The Dragon soars to the heavens, the home of The Creator, The Creator looks upon the Dragon and then down upon his creation and sighs, he also sheds his body and forms himself into the Dragon giving the Dragon an all-powerful force. This moment is the dawn of the creation of the Dragon God."

The small children who sit with their legs folded underneath them encircle the Shaolin Monk around the holy fire open their mouths in awe of the teaching. A small boy raises his hand from his sitting position.

"Why didn't they form the Dragon God sooner? They could have ruled as one and saved the Universe?"

The monk smiles down at the child, "Because the Gods, all of them, were and are still filled with greed. The creation of the Dragon God was a great sacrifice, a sacrifice of pride that they were not the most important God in the Universe, they all were, and by the time they realized that, it was much too late. Let me continue the teaching and it will show you what the Dragon God learned from its failure."

The Monk clenches his fist and shoots a ball of fire in the air launching another vision for the children to see.

"The newly created Dragon God flies over the Universe, and with its breath of fire, ignites all the realms of the Universe until they burn to ashes, with all the Universe destroyed, the Gods who swore to protect their realms ceased to exist any further. Once the Universe is nothing but ash and dust the Dragon God engulfs all of what remains until absolutely nothing is left but emptiness. The Dragon God then spews the remains into the empty Universe into one concentrated location , then it unleashes its first Dragon roar and using a special fire from The Creator called _Kamidogu, _he lights the remains on fire. The combination of the remains and the Kamidogu causes a massive explosion that causes the remains to spread all over the Universe.

Some of the remains of the Universe mixed with the Kamidogu form two new realms. Edenia, this is the realm where the Dragon God will make its lair and he will live with souls who lived in the new Universe with honor. The other realm is Netherrealm this is where the souls that did not learn the lesson of the old Universe, they will go to be tortured by the flames. The remaining space in between remains in darkness, in the darkness once the Komidogu ashes begin to cool they will form new realms. The first two realms to form within the darkness are Orderrealm and Chaosrealm.

In this new Universe to prevent the temptation of invading the realms those who live on realms are shielded from visibly seeing other realms except for small glimpses of light for which we on Earth call stars."

The young children look up at the clear night sky and stare in wonderment at the stars.

"You mean every star in the sky there exist a realm with people living in it just like us?"

The monk smiles, "Not entirely some realms haven't developed enough to have humans on them, some realm will never develop humans, but every star in the sky represents life. Let us continue the story shall we?"

The children nod in anticipation for another vision.

"As further realms develop the Dragon God creates a new role for mortals in the realm. In the old Universe, mortals were nothing but slaves, servants, or warriors to their Gods and Pures. In this realm, the Pure would protect the mortals, the more intelligent and independent the mortals became the more powerful the Pure of that Realm would become. The Pure that was created by that generation would no longer have any significant control over the mortals. The Dragon God also created a new role for immortals called a Protector. The Protector would only become a God once they could prove that they could protect and rule their realm appropriately.

The Dragon God also limited the creation of new realms to once a year, or as an expansion of a God's power as a gift for ruling properly. On Earthrealm one Dragon Year is approximately seventy-five years for us. Once a new unclaimed realm is created an event called a Gathering will occur. At this Gathering the Pures would fight in a tournament, the winner of this tournament would be rewarded as Protector of the new realm."

"But aren't Pures mortal?" A little boy asks.

The monk nods, "Yes they are."

"But what happens if the Pure is born right after the previous Gathering, then at the next one they would be really old?"

"Age to a pure means nothing, it is their power that they harness which is most important."

"Are you a pure?" Another child asks.

"No," the monk pauses, "And I know what your next question will be young girl, then why am I able to do magic?" The monk smiles once more, "Shaolin Monks swear their souls to our God of Earth, by giving up our souls to him we forever live a life of servitude, for our service our God provides us with the power of sorcery to not only provide you with teachings but to protect our newest pure from others who may want to kill it."

"Is there a Pure in the Temple right now?"

The monk laughs, "I swore an oath to protect _him_, so I cannot tell you for sure."


	2. Festival of Light

_First of all, thanks to everyone who's checked out the story so far. It was a lot fun finally putting a story I outlined over a year ago to paper. There will be frequent "teachings" from the Shaolin Monk to provide the backstory needed for everything to make sense. I'm thinking of moving this piece over to the general MK area because Kratos doesn't really have a speaking part in this story (he will if this piece is successful enough) and most of his material is mentioned during the teachings. _

_This next chapter starts the actual story of The Gathering upon the new realm. It is the 570__th__ Gathering which according to the Shaolin Monk's teaching would be about 1700 A.D. on Earthrealm. _

_As always I own none of the characters I plan on using, because if I did I would be a millionaire._

Much like the growing of crops, the growth of the new Universe takes patience. Each realm reacts to the Kamidogu in different ways giving the realms their own unique character. The Dragon God and his disciples the Elder Gods make sure to carefully plan which realms are ready to be gathered upon. The realm that other realms will be descending upon in the upcoming days was chosen ten Dragon Years in advance and so will the next realms to be decided upon afterwards.

For these realms are more significant than "Gift Realms" or realms received as wedding gifts for a new king and queen or as rewards for ruling appropriately, those realms were created by mixing the Kamidogu from the Dragon God and the essence from the current realm of the receiver to create a new realm. Gift realms are created more as an expanse of power and do not rely upon the pure use of Kamidogu much like the "Pure Realms" like the one that will be the site of the new Gathering. Therefore Pures that come from Gift Realms are not as powerful as Pures from Pure Realms.

To have a Pure Realm under your rule gives a God a tremendous amount of power. The ability to create Pures that are far more powerful than most of the other realms gives The God much more respect in the Universe and a well-protected, well-developed pure Realm provides a much smoother path to reaching the status of Elder God than doing it using a slightly muttered Kamidogu version of a Gift Realm.

In the skies of the newly developed atmosphere of the realm portals begin to open, through these portals massive structures fall through the portals and onto the cooled crust of the realm. These structures are massive temples built by mortals to house the God, Protector, Pure, and their servants during their time on the realm. To most of the Gods partaking in the Gathering this portion of the journey is the most stressful, none of the Gods know what type of surface the portal will open up to. They hope that it will be a nice stretch of flat land so that the temple will land safely in the right direction. Unfortunately this realm is a mountainous one and the realms that don't correctly navigate their temple will see their temples land on the sides of steep mountains and roll into the valleys upside down or completely destroyed. Nothing is more embarrassing than showcasing the greatness of your realm with a dilapidated temple. To prevent this issue Gods are using all sorts of methods to make sure their temple remains as pristine as when it as finished.

As a new portal opens up thousands of dead mortals fall through the portal first the God can then observe what happens to the mortals and find the appropriate place to land. Other will use living slave mortals to maneuver around and create a makeshift landing pad for the temple, the crushed bodies underneath provide a safe cushion for the temple's descent. These realms still believe in the ways of the Old Universe, where mortals merely exist to serve the Gods, not the other way around which is the way of the New Universe. This old thinking prevents these Gods from maintaining enough power to become Elder Gods. Other realms that have not developed enough to be significant factors at this Gathering don't want to waste the precious resources of their realms to create temples and simply set up elaborate tents instead. The Gods that choose this sensible path will no doubt be mercilessly mocked for their choice, and other Gods will see this as a sign of weakness and will make plans to invade the realm at a later time. These "Tented" realms will be sure to make steadfast work of creating alliances to help draw off the attacks.

A newer and larger portal opens and through the realm's sky and through this temple large bolts of lightning strike down upon the crust of the new realm. The large limestone temple falls through the opening of the portal and quickly descends upon the realm. Lightning continues to strike around the temple acting like bumpers jolting the temple in different directions until it finds a safe location to land. The lighting strikes become more frequent to slow the temples descent until finally the temple lands softly onto the surface. This temple is the temple of Earthrealm one of the earlier realms created in the new Universe, and it's current protector is Raiden who harnesses the power of lighting. His pure Liu Kang is considered one of the few favorites in the tournament.

The last and largest portal opens this temple is made out of solid gold as it descends slowly and carefully to its reserved destination, unlike the rest of the temples that come to the new realm this temple will return to its realm of Edenia for it is the temple of the Elder Gods. With the Elder Gods' temple securely in place in the new realm this signals that The Gathering has finally begun.

The first night of The Gathering begins the Festival of Light. Every realm will place torches in front of the entrances to their temple. The torches are lit to symbolize that the realm is represented and is partaking in The Gathering festivities. The lighting of the torches also symbolize an agreement of a truce between all the realms that none of the realms partaking in The Gathering will be attacked while the Gathering takes place and that all mortals currently living back on the realms will be safe. Those that travel to the new realm and forget to display torches, light their torches, or have their torches extinguished will have their God, Protector, and Pure imprisoned in Netherrealm until the completion of the Gathering.

"Vaeternus!" A guard of Edenia calls out.

The God of Vaeternus, Countus a Vampire like God exits his temple, along with his Protector, and Pure.

"You're torches are not filled with fire! You must leave!"

"They were lit, we lit them ourselves!" Countus claims, he looks out at his torches and sees that they have been smothered, "I have been tricked!"

"You are too foolish to have safe passage to this realm, you must leave!" Suddenly three fiery portals open up underneath the three representatives of Vaeturnus, they portals drop them into Netherrealm, fortunately for Countus and his Protector their safety will be insured due to their immortality, but unfortunately for their pure a young teenaged girl her mortality cannot handle the flames of Netherrealm and she gets consumed by fire, she screams in agony for minutes before his finally turns to ash.

To prevent other realms from distinguishing their torches most of the realms have sentries that guard the torches day and night to make sure the fires stay burning throughout The Gathering. Once the guards of Edenia successfully tally all the realms in that exist in the new realm, a large gong is sounded five times and a portal opens in the skies once more, dragon fire from the Dragon God bust through the portal and lights the torch of Edenia ending the Festival of Light. At the end of the festival with the truce finally intact the representatives of all the realms now leave their temples and begin to mingle amongst themselves. Much of this time is spent negotiating amongst all the Gods for protection or finding a champion to represent them in the tournament instead of sending their own Pure to be sacrificed to a stronger one.

For the first time in a Dragon Year Raiden walks alone among all the masses that converge around the Temple of Edenia, much like many of the representatives tonight he also is discussing business but in a different manner. Raiden is the Protector of Earth, but his God, Onaga, wants nothing but to destroy Earth. Fortunately for him the Elder Gods would not tolerate one of the most valuable realms to be destroyed without their protection. Unfortunately for Raiden there is reward for a God who's Pure wins the tournament. That God can make a declaration and the Elder Gods are disallowed from intervening. Which means if Liu Kang wins the tournament, Earth will be destroyed, Onaga also has better odds of getting his wish because he is also the God of Outworld the second most powerful realm besides Edenia, and since Edenia does not champion a pure for the tournament, Onaga will most likely have the favorite to win the tournament at his fingertips along with Liu Kang. If Earth is going to survive Raiden must find a way to strike a deal for its protection and the most likely person to strike a deal with is also the person that he despises the most.

His mood quickly changes when he finds a raven haired princess wearing a dark blue silk robe that matches the darkness of her eyes. She is Kitana Princess of Outworld and daughter to Onaga. Raiden smiles her beauty brings a calm to his tenseness, "So what does the simple one say?"

Kitana sighs, "Your brother," she focuses her cobalt eyes into the flicking eyes of Raiden, "He sides with Onaga."

_So there are many rules in this new Universe. So if you have any problems understanding the rules leave a comment and I will answer it for you. Also, leave a comments anyway, all writers love critiques on their work. _


	3. Two Brothers

_Once again a big thanks to everyone that his checked out the story so far, and especially a big thanks to __**Mr. Havik**__ for everything you have done so far. I hope you all are liking the new mythology, some is cannon to the actual mythology, some isn't. I'm expecting this piece to be pretty long because we're going to visit the Shaolin Monk again and we also have to have dinner!_

_As always I don't own any of the characters that I will use, although that would be pretty cool if I did._

**Two Brothers**

The Shaolin Monk's students once again gather around the holy fire overly eager to hear today's lesson, it is a lesson that they have been anticipating for some time, they have gone through every Dragon Year of the new Universe from the dawn of the Dragon God to the creation of Earthrealm and its first protector, Kratos, now they have reached the year of the Dragon two hundred, a celebrated year in the Shaolin Temple, celebrated and feared, and this is why the children want to hear the teaching, they want to know why the year two hundred is so sacred to the Shaolin Monks.

The Shaolin Monk approaches them and smiles, "I know you are all very eager today, today is a teaching of great importance, but I want to implore you not to find these teachings as 'interesting' or 'exciting' because they are more than that, the year two hundred is the basis of everything our realm stands for and for what we reject and that basis lies within the birth of two brothers."

Once again the monk gathers a flame from the holy fire and tosses it into the sky creating a vision for the children to see.

"It is the Year of the Dragon 200 or about 2000 B.C. in Earthrealm. In this year Shinnok the Elder God of the Shadow Realm and Murcia a princess God who resided in Edenia made love, Murcia was so charmed by Shinnok's power that she granted him the ability to give her a child."

"Wait a minute? Shinnok, THEE Shinnok was an _Elder God?" _A boy called out interrupting the vision, "But Shinnok is evil, why would the Dragon God grant him passage to Edenia?"

The Shaolin Monk nods, "You are wise to ask this question, but you misunderstood what gives a God passage to Edenia, it is not whether the God is good or evil, because good and evil are imperceptible measurements of a God, just because we on Earth believe that Shinnok is evil, others think that he is a visionary that was punished because of a disagreement with other Elder Gods. Some realms believe that Kratos is evil, that Earthrealm is evil, because they disagree with how we conduct ourselves in our realm, good and evil don't truly exist, it's really a matter of those who agree and disagree. The only form of measurement an Elder God has to evaluate a God is their mortals that they serve, and Shinnok for all his perceived "evil" he brought to our realm treated his mortals in the shadow realm very well."

"But my father says the shadow realm does not have any light, it has no food, no life."

"It doesn't have human life, or natural human life," the Shaolin Monk interrupts. "One could argue that the mortals that live in the shadow realm are more advanced than humans, because their mortals don't require food, water, shelter, or love for that matter, they are non-physical beings, living shadows, who live for more than a hundred Dragon years, up to a thousand years in our realm, we do not believe in the philosophy of Shinnok, therefore we disagree with him, therefor it is easy to dismiss him as evil, but you must always respect Shinnok."

The monk pauses, "We will discuss more about Shinnok in the future, we will save that teaching for a later time, let's continue our teaching today."

Another flame rises from the holy fire to form another vision.

"Soon after, Murcia gives birth to fraternal twins, two brothers, princes Raiden and Shao Kahn."

The rumblings and whispers from the children as the words _Raiden_ and _Shao Kahn_ come from the Shaolin Monk's mouth, even though the children are learning about the Universe, all the children have heard about the stories of Raiden and Kahn but to hear the actual story now causes goose bumps to form on their tiny bodies.

"The two twins were unfortunately destined to become enemies because they both sought inspiration from the opposite sides of the Universe debate. Raiden became his mother's favorite and she taught her son the greatness of the new Universe and how the new ways will bring peace to all the realms. Surprisingly Raiden sought power from his father, he became fascinated with the power of lighting and thunder and eventually though his studies he became a being of pure energy, much like Shinnok's mortals are an essence of pure darkness, Raiden became an essence of pure light.

Shao Kahn formed the opposite patterns of his brother, he took the teachings of his father, who believed in the old Universe, where the mortals serve the Gods with their lives, he learns through his mother the art of politics and deal making, he takes his power in brute strength, the creation of ingenious armory and weapons, and using his mind to manipulate and intimidate to get his way.

Once the boys were fully grown they both had a choice to make, to stay on Edenia and live as Princes much like their mother lives as a Princess, or leave Edenia forever and join the tutelage of a Protector to earn a trip back to Edenia with higher status. Most Princes and Princesses choose to stay on Edenia and not get involved in the Universe, but both Raiden and Shao Kahn chose to make their own destiny, for Raiden it was to show Edenia that his mother was more worthy than just being considered someone's child her entire life and to give importance to her legacy he needed to make one of his own. Kahn left Edenia to prove to the Elder Gods that his father's beliefs about the New Universe were correct and that the new ways will only lead to the mortals' destruction of all the realms.

Raiden chose to serve his tutelage under Kratos the winner and Protector of Earthrealm, Kratos believed in the new ways and Earthrealm was quickly becoming a flagship for how the new ways can lead to prosperity. Kahn chose to serve his tutelage under Onaga the winner and Protector of Outworld. Outworld followed the old ways and created and its realm solely for the creation and production of warriors.

Raiden continues to develop his fascination with nature and how lightning can also create life due to its chemistry, he trains at the Shaolin Temple and forms a close friendship with Earth's Pure at the time, Kung Lao."

"Raiden trained at the temple?" A boy rings out.

The monk chuckles, "Yes, in this very room actually, this holy fire was created by one of Raiden's lightning strikes."

Oohs and ahs ring out as they all stare at the holy fire, "This is why the holy fire brings us visions, only Raiden and the Shaolin Monks can actually use its power, again the creation of the fire will be held for another teaching at another time. Let us continue, and this time without the monk's command another fire bursts into the sky as if Raiden himself commands it.

"Kahn further learns the art of deception and manipulation from Onaga, Onaga also teaches him how to command an army, he learns that for mortals to serve they must fear your retribution."

A realm's temple is supposed to symbolize the embodiment and essence of their realm. Earthrealm makes their temples out of limestone, because limestone is a mineral that only develops on Earth. Most of the other realms build their temples out of minerals that can only be found in their realm, this provides each temple its individual beauty and importance to the universe. One temple above all else uses their building material not to show the beauty and rarity of their realm but to intimidate the rest of the realms, Outworld choses to build their realms using the remains of _Unworthies, _these are mortals that were not considered strong enough to be warriors so instead they were executed and their remains were mixed with the dusty soil that comes from Outworld to form a strange version of concrete. The appalling structure is always an eyesore but the message is clearly sent: _Only the strong survive, we have no weaknesses._

Inside the Protector's chambers sits Shao Kahn, his armor which looks as if, much like the temple, is made from the bones of those he defeated, is actually made from a non-existent material that he devised while in study, hangs on the wall beside him. Shang Tsung the winner of the eleventh tournament that he won decisively by being the first Pure in the new Universe to harness the ability to reap souls, this practice will surely land him in Netherrealm upon his defeat. Soul reaping is one of the most powerful weapons in the Universe, if executed correctly in combat it will result an instant defeat and the knowledge of the soul will be preserved in the body of the reaper. The ability is so powerful that after Tsung's easy conquest, the Elder Gods stated that soul reaping is a banned practice for the Gathering Tournament; however it still can be used in Mortal Kombat.

Kahn rises from his resting place and smiles at his protégé, "Is the Pure ready?"

Tsung nods, "Of course, my Protector."

"You should be less foolish and realize that you are a Protector yourself, for a long time actually."

Tsung shakes his head, "My realm means nothing to me, I only want to be a Protector of one realm and one realm only."

Kahn looks into Tsung's eyes, "Being a Protector is like being one's bitch, a talented soul like yourself should yearn for greater things." There is a pause as the two men smile once more, "Come, for tonight is the most important night on this realm because tonight we show that our power has no limitations."

On the second night of The Gathering is the Showcase Feast. This feast is hosted inside the Golden Temple of the Elder Gods. Here the Gods and Protectors that wish to place their Pures in the Tournament will showcase their Pure's to the other Pure's who feel that they are not powerful enough to stand a chance in the tournament. This process called _Championing_ is completed when a pure bows to another Pure after their showcase, a Pure can bow to any Pure at any time before the Tournament begins, but they can only bow once, once a Pure bows, the "bow" is binding. If the realm chooses to side with another Pure as their champion than the result of the champion will determine the fate of their realm. If their champion is victorious in the tournament that realm's Pure will be allowed to keep its power and continue its studies, and that realm will hold a binding "favor" to the winning realm that cannot be overturned by the Elder Gods. If the champion is defeated the Pure will lose their power but will be allowed to remain alive as a mortal and they will also be granted safe passage back to their realm. This seems like a safer alternative for realms with weaker Pures, however out of shame many Pures choose to end their own lives so that they suffer the same fate as the champion that died, as they feel that they can die with honor rather than live in guilt.

As the feast begins different Pures use their time to showcase their abilities to their audience that is seated over them in a large pantheon arena hoping to impress other realms into using that Pure as their champion. However the earlier Pures don't get many "bows" if any because the more powerful realms will showcase their Pures closer to the end. Eventually Earthrealm is called and to many people surprise, Liu Kang enters the showcase arena. Murmurs throughout the arena can be heard.

"What is Raiden doing? He should be finding a champion to battle Outworld." Is the summary of most of the surprised audience.

Liu Kang begins his showcase and almost immediately the audience falls in awe of Liu Kang's abilities, his moves have very little complexity in them but they are almost invisible due to his immense speed of their execution. Occasionally the power of Liu Kang slowly reveals itself as small bursts of flame emerge from his ferocious pace of kicks and punches. When the presentation is finished, around a third of the Pures in room choose to bow to Liu Kang, championing him. The rest wait for Outworld, for their realm is the largest and most powerful realm besides Edenia.

Suddenly the doors burst open and Shao Kahn appears dressed in his full armor, Shang Tsung follows closely behind him. Raiden seeing the presence of his twin brother begins to spark with anger. Kahn laughs at his brother, "Your little monk is quite impressive but we all know that it's a charade, we all know that he will bow tonight."

Suddenly a Saurian dressed in black armor emerges from hiding, he then turns toward Liu Kang and spits a liquid out of his mouth, Liu Kang easily ducks the attack and the liquid splatters over the stone walls of the showcase circle, almost instantly the walls corrode into nothing.

Kahn laughs, "But whomever you bow to, their chances of victory are futile." A vast emergence of Pures have no choice but to bow to the Saurian, Liu Kang however does not.

"Bow monk!" Kahn shouts but Liu Kang does not bow.

"Earthrealm bows to no one," Raiden intervenes from his place in the arena, "Liu Kang will compete in the tournament and those of you who championed Liu Kang your champion will compete in the tournament."

A strong deep voice laughs on the tier above Raiden, he looks up to see Onaga God of Earth and Outworld laughing at his Protector, "You fool!"

An Elder God sitting on the highest tier of the arena stands up and looks down upon Raiden, "Protector Raiden, by having Liu Kang compete in the tournament you now give Lord Onaga two chances to destroy your realm, it is unwise for Liu Kang to compete in the tournament. Ego or not Liu Kang should bow to someone besides the Saurian."

Raiden looks up at the Elder God, "I understand your concern my Lord, but Earthrealm's decision is binding, Liu Kang will compete in the tournament and he will represent the Pures that championed him."

Raiden looks over to the right of the Elder God, there he sees Kratos former God of Earth, sitting stoically showing little to no emotion over Raiden's decision.

_Once again more rules were discussed in this chapter, if you have any questions or need clarification please write a review and I'll answer your question. Please leave a review anyway they are always greatly appreciated. _

_Also please do not think that I got the idea of Kahn and Raiden being brother from "Annihalation" that movie destroyed much of the momentum MK was bringing to the mainstream and I will never honor any cannon from that story. I just always thought that Kahn and Raiden act more like they have a really messed up sibling rivalry rather than just being mortal enemies, and making Shinnok their father gives them much more power and respect than just making their father a nobody heard of God._


	4. The Battle for Earthrealm

_It has finally become time to introduce Kratos into this MK new Universe, we already know based on previous chapters that he is an Elder God, but this chapter will explain how that came about. In order to learn further about Kratos we must return to the Shaolin Temple and get another teaching from the Shaolin Monk._

_**As always I own none of the characters I plan on using, because if I did "Annihalation" would have never existed.**_

**The Battle for Earthrealm**

A different group of individuals encircle the Shaolin Monk this evening. These children are closer to adolescent age than of the young children that inhabit most of the Shaolin Monk's teachings. These children come here to learn the history of Earthrealm, and what needs to be done in order to protect it. The younger children aren't able to handle the fact that Earth is constantly on the verge of destruction, it's too much for their young minds to handle, this group has been deemed mature enough to handle that information.

"Tonight is your first teaching about how fortunate we all are to still consider Earthrealm to be home. Earthrealm is a very valuable realm in the Universe, and there are many of those in the Universe that want to use that power for themselves and others want to see it destroyed. For the remainder of eternity or until the next Armageddon, Earth will always remain in peril, and it is our jobs as Shaolin Monks to help protect it. Some of you in this room will take on the responsibility and the honor to give your soul to our God and become a Shaolin Monk yourself, one day you may be standing in front of this same holy fire and teach the teachings you have learned to the future generations. To understand how important those teachings are, you must understand how sacred your time on Earthrealm actually is, for your first teaching we will take you back to the Year of the Dragon two hundred and twenty."

Again the monk lifts a ball of holy fire in the air and creates of vision to share his teaching.

"Looking at Earthrealm and its sheer beauty from Edenia, Shinnok realizes that Earthrealm will soon emense such great power that his despised son Raiden will become more powerful than him, and if Raiden becomes more powerful than him it will certainly destroy the old ways of the Universe and make all those that still hold on to the old ways virtually powerless. Therefore Shinnok believes that he has no other choice than to destroy Earthrealm. Shinnok isn't a fool however, and he knows that if he destroys such a valuable realm, he will be cast out of Edenia and sent to Netherrealm for eternity, but Shinnok has a plan, he decides to create a special amulet, this amulet will hide the presence of Shinnok from the Elder Gods, this would allow him to use the magic of the portals and destroy Earthrealm without the Elder God's knowledge. There would be no proof since no one would have witnessed the destruction.

At this point in time Kratos has now become God of Earthrealm and Kung Lao its protector. Kratos has no choice but to Battle Shinnok in Mortal Kombat in order to defend Earth. Kratos and Kung Lao challenge Kung Lao in an epic battle and Shinnok being exponentially more powerful than both Kratos and Kung Lao combined, easily accepts this challenge. However Kratos is very cunning and knows that Shinnok must be cloaking himself from the Elder Gods because the Elder Gods would have certainly intervened in his battle with Shinnok, when Kratos sees the glowing amulet he uses Kung Lao to distract Shinnok and steal Shinnok's amulet.

With Shinnok visible to the Elder Gods, Shinnok is immediately banished from Edenia for his attempt at destroying Earthrealm and sent to Netherrealm. But Shinnok being as wise as his upon entering Netherrealm immediately names himself Protector to prevent the flames from diminishing his power. The Dragon God agrees to this deal on the condition that he never leave Netherrealm again."

"What did Kratos do with the amulet?" A boy asks.

"Only Kratos knows, he couldn't have destroyed it because it would have destroyed him in the process, the existence of the amulet is one of the biggest mysteries in the Universe."

"So with Shinnok in Netherrealm that had to bring some peace, right?" A girl asks.

The Shaolin Monk shakes his head in distraught, "Quite the contrary, for his defeat of Shinnok, Kratos is awarded a place amongst the Elder Gods, making Kung Lao God of Earth, and Raiden having served his tutelage becomes Protector over the much weaker Pure at the time. Earthrealm was now under the protection of a young God who had only won his tournament twenty Dragon Years ago and a former Prince who is inexperienced in combat. If someone was ambitious enough and smart enough Earthrealm was certainly vulnerable for a takeover. Onaga God of Outworld, believed that he could be the one to steal Earthrealm from Kung Lao, however Onaga didn't just want to become God of Earth, he wanted to turn Earth into an advanced version of Outworld and turn the powerful mortals of Earth into a destructive army, and because he was actually a God of a Realm, he could simply wait until Outworld won a Gathering Tournament and Challenge Kung Lao to Mortal Kombat, instead of having to hide from the Gods like Shinnok did.

But who Onaga feared the most was not Kung Lao, but Raiden, he knew of Raiden's lineage and knew that Raiden could possibly be nearly as powerful as Shinnok himself, so he needed a way to weaken Raiden so that he could kill him without killing himself in the process, so he decides to make a deal with the one person who was guaranteed to overpower Raiden, Shinnok himself. "

"But how making a deal with Shinnok would certainly send him to Netherrealm as well." a boy rings out.

The Shaolin Monk nods, "Yes, but Onaga was smart enough to know this as well, the two needed and intermediary, someone that could travel between the realms and that person was seen as the Prophecy."

"The Prophecy? What's that?" A girl interrupts.

The monk smiles, "That will be for another lesson at another time."


	5. The Prophecy

_Big thanks to everyone who checked out the piece over the weekend, it was the most traffic this story has ever gotten over a weekend. So I was pretty excited about that, if you like my work, may I suggest checking out my Arrow piece called "The Hunting Party" it is a piece based on the CW show arrow using Linkin Park's new album properly named "The Hunting Party" I was really proud of my last chapter called "The Summoning" that piece was entirely created off the sounds of an instrumental in the album. Also I'm starting prep for my mafia series "This Corporation of Ours" which is currently on . Best way to find it is to go to my author page author/matthewspychala. There's also a novel called "Sector Seven" on their if you're interested in that message me for the details._

_So Mortal Kombat! This chapter will be another "teaching" from the Shaolin Monk and it picks up from the last teaching where the Shaolin Monk mentions "The Prophecy" this will rely partially on MK Cannon and partially not. In order for the audience (you guys) to see how important the Gathering 570 really is we have to share the story about the prophecy. I'm having a lot of fun writing this new Universe out and hopefully you all are enjoying it and taking how successful the weekend was I'll say that you guys are, and that's very appreciated._

_**Once again I own none of the characters I'm about to use…but if I did that would be awesome.**_

As the adolescent children once again surround the Shaolin Monk he starts to ponder, for many generations he has told the stories of the Universe, he wonders whether the children of the villages that encompass and protect the temple still see the same virtues in the teachings as he did when he was a small child. There is just so much more temptation than there was, new technologies have connected the temples to cities and countries all over the globe, the monks have feared this technology since it could lead to the revelation of their temple, but these children, especially these adolescents know that there is a world that knows nothing about Gods, Protectors, and Pures and perhaps the temptation to leave the villages and the great honor that resides in the villages is just too strong. As all the adolescents are seated he smiles, each one is at his full attention, each one wants him to teach them more about the ways of the Universe, and his heart is filled with joy at their curiosity.

"I left off a teaching a while back about a figure known at _The Prophecy._ I think it is now time for me to teach you about The Prophecy, because if you all decide to join the Shaolin Monks you must always be aware of the presence of The Prophecy."

The flames once again rise in the air to reveal a vision for the adolescents to see.

"The first two realms to form in The Darkness of the new Universe were the realms Order and Chaos. As those realms developed and created human life, the Dragon God named the first two Protectors of the new Universe. The Protector of Chaosrealm was a male named Argus, he believed in the stern leadership needed to bring order to all the chaos, and the use of simple powers such as strength and intelligence. The other Protector was named Delia she became the Protector of Orderrealm, she believed in compassion and complex powers such as sorcery, she used her complex powers to see into the future.

Her most powerful vision was that once again the Universe would be at war, the Elder Gods would revolt against the Dragon God and form their own Dragon out of their souls to challenge the Dragon God, this battle of Dragons would lead to the Universe's destruction once again. She was clearly disturbed by this new vision and thought that she should share her visions to devise a plan to prevent this new Armageddon. She thought against sharing it with the Dragon God because she feared that this could force the Dragon God to enslave all life and limit creation in the Universe to prevent this uprising, so instead she went to her fellow Protector Argus.

So after sharing her vision Argus and Delia created a warrior essence called _Blaze_. Blaze would contain enough power to confront and destroy any warrior and bring peace to the Universe. Argus knew that provisions must be put in place to make sure that only a single chosen person could be worthy enough to adorn the essence of Blaze. Delia suggested that the person must go through a journey of enlightenment. Argus also said that this particular person must be a strong warrior who could defeat the most skilled warriors in combat, this way once just can't manipulate their way to becoming the all-powerful. Delia's chose that her journey of enlightenment must begin with a mortal who is a slave of the Netherrealm, since this would mean that the mortal was in the lowest form of existence as possible and going from that existence to becoming Blaze would be a fitful journey of being a nothing into an all-powerful. Argus made the last requirement that along with defeating a champion of an eventual Gathering tournament that would start in the next Dragon Year, that this mortal who once was a slave of the Netherrealm who used their abilities to defeat a champion must also be cunning enough to get an eventual Gathering Champion to willfully submit their soul to them. These three virtues: Enlightenment, Combat, and Cunning would unleash the essence of Blaze upon them."

"A slave from the Netherrealm? How does one escape from the Netherrealm I thought they had to be trapped for eternity there?" An adolescent questions.

The monk smiles, "They do, but one can be freed from the Netherrealm under _special_ circumstances."

"To create Blaze?"

The monk shakes his head, "No, mostly everyone including slaves are in Netherrealm for a reason, and letting anyone escape from Netherrealm can have serious repercussions, such as the possible destruction of this realm, let's discuss what happens when one escapes Netherrealm."

Another burst of flame rises in the sky, and a vision of Netherrealm and all its horror comes to life in front of the adolescents, some on instinct flinch or try to hide themselves from the vision, but the monk continues his teaching.

"While in Netherrealm Shinnok the new Protector of Netherrealm discovered an adolescent boy by the name of Quan Chi. To Shinnok's surprise the boy was a Pure, after questioning the boy, he learned that Quan Chi was the son of a God and a female Pure that were banished to Netherrealm because their torch was not lit during the Festival of Light, the God of that realm always admired the Pure's beauty and decided to act on his urge once he knew that she would soon be consumed by the flames. Quan Chi in order to stay alive learned sorcery and soul reaping in such a way that the flames of the Netherrealm did not weaken him as they were supposed to. Shinnok instantly believed that Quan Chi was _The Prophecy_. He soon devised a plan to create the all-powerful, once the all-powerful was created Quan Chi would be freed and allowed to rule over the Elder Gods due to his new alliance.

Shinnok created a secondary amulet, this amulet would allow Quan Chi to escape Netherrealm and use the portals without the Elder Gods' knowledge, however this amulet had a timer, after the time ran out Quan Chi would be transported back to Netherrealm. This way Shinnok wouldn't lose Quan Chi after his escape and ruin his chance for power.

Doing as he's told Quan Chi escapes the Netherrealm and travels through the portals to Outworld. There, Quan Chi shared a plan devised by Shinnok himself, Onaga in exchange of his sworn allegiance to Shinnok, would be given a power to raise an army of mortals that would not die, thus making the advantage of Pures over mortals useless because of the mass numbers eventually wearing down the Pure. Every mortal that Onaga's army slaughtered would then instantly be revived and form ranks with the army. With all the mortals of a realm turned into undead warriors of Onaga the Protector's power would disappear and then Onaga with his mighty army could destroy the God or have that God swear allegiance to him.

Onaga almost instantly bows to Quan Chi and swears his allegiance to Shinnok. Quan Chi then uses his sorcery along with some essence of Shinnok to create a beating heart within Onaga, this heart had the power of resurrection, the heart would continue beating as long as his allegiance to Shinnok was strong. With this new power and a new massive army of mortals, Onaga traveled through the portals and invaded many realms. He slaughtered the warriors that do not bow to him and then resurrected them to form ranks into his army. He then uses the rest of that realm's resources to help create more warriors and slaughter "unworthies" eventually like the other realms under his control the realm becomes barren and dust stricken and is eventually formed into a copy of the original Outworld. With all mortals turned into slaves or killed, no Protectors are needed and the God of the realm withers to nothing making Onaga the new God of the realm.

Eventually Onaga's Immortal Army is so massive that he believes that he can withstand an attack from a descendent of Shinnok himself. He decides that it is finally time to invade the crown jewel of the new Universe and end the new ways once and for all. Onaga with all his might traveled through the portals and prepared to invade Earthrealm."

"Why didn't Onaga just invade the entire Universe and save Earthrealm for last?" A adolescent boy questions.

"Because Onaga even with the Immortal Army, could only invade Realms with weak or newer Gods, well established Gods would be able to destroy the Immortal Army many times over, plus most of the well-developed realms had plenty of support because they had Elder Gods in Edenia to protect them. Earthrealm was in a rare position. Kratos had only been an Elder God for mere moments and had yet to form enough alliances within Edenia to arrange an attack against Onaga. Kung Lao was still a very young and very raw God, and his situation was rare because he was not as powerful as his protector was. This left Earthrealm in an extremely vulnerable situation, a situation that Onaga could clearly use to his advantage. Let us continue the teaching, shall we?

As Onaga started his preparation for invasion, Kratos was finally able to convince the Elder Gods of Edenia that Onaga's strategy of simply destroying worlds and making mortals slaves would make the new rules useless because other realms would see Onaga and try to do the same thing, causing the same destruction that caused the previous Armageddon. However the Elder Gods do not want to give too much influence to the new Elder God so they devised a solution that saved Earthrealm and limited the power of Kratos.

It is decided that Kung Lao and Onaga would fight in Mortal Kombat and the winner would become God of Earthrealm, the idea would be that Onaga would receive Earthrealm's power without having to destroy it. Onaga would then be too tempted by the power of Earthrealm to enslave and destroy it and instead would remain God of Earth relishing in its power.

Kung Lao knows that this decision is the same as suicide but he has no other choice, Kung Lao fights with as much honor as possible, but honor cannot help him enough and he is easily killed by Onaga. Onaga becomes the God of Earth and with that the most powerful God in the Universe due to his newly acquired realms with his invasions. Onaga then made his case to the Elder Gods that his power clearly should allow him access into Edenia and if Kratos could become an Elder God by stealing an amulet than he should become an Elder God by his theft of Earthrealm.

The Elder Gods disagree stating that Onaga has not shown the ability to develop mortality and that his methods of enslaving them is not an example of what they want in Edenia. Onaga saw this as betrayal and has his forces invade Earthrealm, but this time the Elder Gods do intervene and prevent his immortal army from slaughtering Earthrealm's mortals. Onaga is angered with his new predicament and vows that he will destroy Earthrealm, but only after he claims more realms and Earthrealm becomes the most advanced society in the Universe, that way the Elder Gods' power will be tied too much to Earthrealm, and once it's destroyed the Elder Gods will lose their power and he will become the most powerful Elder God in the Universe by force, like the old ways suggested it should be. Onaga did what exactly he promised, he destroyed as many realms as possible building his Immortal Army into the millions, at the same time he allowed Earthrealm's society to flourish, not for Earthrealm's benefit, but to make The Elder Gods too dependent on Earthrealm to maintain their power. Eventually three hundred and seventy Dragon Years later Onaga finally had the means and the way to destroy Earth, all it took was either a victory from Earthrealm or Outworld in the Gathering held in the Year of the Dragon five hundred and seventy, and Earthrealm would meet its certain destruction."

The adolescents are completely still, stunned at the new revelation that it was _Onaga_ that advanced society on Earth and not Raiden. The villages that these adolescents come from all celebrate Raiden for turning Earth into an advanced society. They realize now why so many children are not given permission to return to the adolescent teachings, and that mostly no one will choose to become a Shaolin Monk. It's not because of the sacrifice it takes, giving up ones soul grants the monks an extended life and the knowledge of sorcery, it's the _knowledge_ that makes it difficult. The knowledge that Earthrelam is the way it is today because it is intended to be destroyed, not celebrated.

The Shaolin Monk looks at the adolescents he can see what his teaching has done to them, he now realizes that his words still do mean something, and that there will be more that will join to prevent Onaga's prophecy from coming to fruition.

_If you have any questions, predictions, suggestions, leave a comment, until next time…._


	6. The Opening

_Possible spoiler alert, this is where the M rating starts to take place._

**I do not own any of the characters that I use…at last here I don't.**

The sound of Princess Kitana's knee high boots clack against the glossed limestone floor of Raiden's chambers. Her blue robe is loosely tied revealing the black leather and blue silk bustier underneath. Raiden doesn't have much time for smiling, too many people want him dead, his realm destroyed for him to enjoy his life, and even though everything told him that succumbing to his desires would put him in a vulnerable position, sometimes desire wins.

Kitana is the daughter of Onaga and her mother Sindel, Sindel was a beautiful Queen of a Gift Realm who took care of her responsibilities of being a God of a realm. That was until Onaga and his Immortal Army invaded her realm, her forces, Protector, and Pure were not strong enough to fight off the massive army, but when Onaga laid eyes upon Sindel for the first time, Onaga offered a deal, become his Queen and bare a child and Onaga would not destroy the realm. Sindel who loved her realm and its inhabitants saw no choice, Onaga raped Sindel and forced her to into baring a child, that child's name is Kitana. Sindel after giving birth to Kitana kills herself out of shame, unfortunately she didn't know about Onaga's resurrection powers, Onaga is angered by what he sees as a breach of agreement so Onaga revives her and forces her to watch the destruction of her realm, Onaga names her his wife without her consent. To this day she lives imprisoned in the walls of Outworld's palace where Onaga waits for the day that she will consent to their marriage. Onaga shows compassion for his beautiful daughter also hoping that one day she will chose to ascend into becoming a Protector of Outworld once Onaga finally gains entrance into Edenia as an Elder God.

Kitana approaches Raiden and slowly grinds up against him, even though he is merely an essence of pure energy, he can still feel the arousal entering his system. Raiden's hand slowly starts to pull the loose tie of her robe until the tie unravels, Kitana lets the silk fall off her shoulders and pool to the ground. Raiden traces a hand from her neck between her breast and stops just before her clitoris causing Kitana to jolt in anticipation, instead of continuing his suggestive movements, Raiden wraps the hand around her ass, and lifts her up off the ground. As Raiden carries her to his throne Kitana loosens the tie on his robe as well, with the robe off Raiden chooses to form his body into a naked human form, Kitana smiles and scratches her nails hard against the newly formed torso, Raiden doesn't have to feel the pain but he chooses his body to feel the sensation and lets out a growl, small jolts of electricity spark out of his pupils which only further turns on Kitana.

Raiden places Kitana down on his throne, leaving her butt partially hanging over the end of the chair, Raiden gathers himself between her legs and his mouth descends upon her neck, Kitana first feels the searing pain of Raiden's energy touching her skin but then the pain subsides and the small bits of energy that prick her skin massage all her worries away, she lets out a moan and wraps her knee high boots around Raiden's body. Raiden makes quick work of the bustier and pulls the lingerie away exposing Kitana's naked body, her dark long dark hair lays along her breasts, and Raiden quickly pushes the hair aside and places a mouth to the left breast while releasing energy to massage her right nipple. He switches movements allowing Kitana to feel both human and energetic touch, Raiden delivers a fast and very wet kiss to Kitana while maintaining both sources of energy to massaging her nipples, Kitana enjoying the feeling of being pleasured in three different area does her best to return the favor and grabs hold of Raiden's cock gently massaging the tip, Raiden lets out a growl and slightly arches away from Kitana, he unleashes a third source of energy, this one to massage her clit.

"Oh my…Oh God!" she moans her body arching as he body loses all control and the combination of multiple energies arousing her in different places set her off with her first orgasm, at this moment she knows the energy being used on her would kill any mortal and for a short moment she pities them for not being able to enjoy such pleasure. As she wandered off into thought, Raiden continued his assault and entered Kitana, the combination of _another _sensation immediately causes Kitana to lose control again, but Raiden does not wait for her to come down from her release, instead he thrusts heavily.

Immortals technically don't have to orgasm, since a child is conceived by acknowledge of both partners while in the exact of sexual reproduction that they want to create a child, so while immortals technically don't need mortal reproductive methods such as orgasms, most tend to have them for pleasurable experience.

As Raiden continues to thrust while the energies continue to Kitana's nipples and clitoris, Kitana again unleashes and even harder orgasm from all the immense energy consuming her, as she comes down from her latest release she stares into Raiden's eyes.

"Have the thought, I will be a willing carrier." Kitana breathes out.

Raiden finally unleashes his orgasm and the energies finally subside, Kitana lays practically lifeless against Raiden's throne, she is drenched in sweat she's panting for air, she looks up at Raiden, "So? Do I have your child?"

"No, you and the baby would be instantly destroyed, I cannot have that on my conscience."

"I will find solace in your temple, I will gladly leave in sanctuary on Earthrealm."

Raiden shakes his head as he places his robe back on, "You wouldn't be there for very long, Liu Kang or Kahn Saurion will most likely decide the outcome of the tournament and you will instantly be killed in the battle for Earthrealm afterwards."

Kitana snears, "I would rather die, the Elder Gods of Edenia would gladly accept my soul."

"Your father has destroyed more realms than any God in the Universe you stand little chance of entry into Edenia at this point."

"Then save me, give me refuge." Kitana begs into Raiden's eyes.

Raiden sighs, "If the chance comes I will, but now is not the time."

As light enters the new realm to bring daylight the Pures who will compete in the tournament make their way inside the arena of the Elder Gods. Of the close to a thousand Pures eligible to fight in the Tournament only two hundred and fifty Pures will actually enter the tournament, most of these Pures only enter the tournament to honor their realms and they fully expect to die in Mortal Kombat over the coming days. The seeding for the tournament is based on how many Pures the Pure is championing, the two with the most "bows" at the showcase were Outworld's Saurion with by far the most with Liu Kang of Earth Realm receiving the second most. Those two, along with four others receive a bye in the first round of the tournament and will fight tomorrow while the remaining two hundred and forty-four will fight to the death in the arena today.

The first day of the Gathering Tournament is more ceremonial than entertaining, there have only been a handful of "upsets" on the first day of the Tournament, as the first day is usual for the weeding out of those that have no business fighting. These insignificant Pures enter the arena, receive a large applause for the Elder Gods, Gods, and Protectors sitting in different levels, then are brutally murdered only moments later.

Such is an example of a Pure named Stryker, as he enters the arena his handsomeness and his smile please the crowd and they give a massive applause to the Pure. As the official sounds the call to fight his opponent unleashes a red essence before he could even use is abilities of armor, the red essence melts his body from liquids pool out of all the holes in his body before he is nothing more than a puddle of human remnants. As the first day ends in the arena, one hundred and twenty-two Pures have been slaughtered in the arena, one hundred and twenty-eight remain.

Onaga and Kahn return to their temple after the first round festivities both confident that their Saurian Pure could overcome all the challengers that were showcased throughout the day.

"Where is my daughter!" Onaga yells out, he booming voice rumbling through the halls made of dead remains.

"She's probably out mingling with the others," Kahn responds rather annoyed.

"Do you realize that she can be captured and tortured, you are the Protector of my realm it is your duty to keep her safe!"

Kahn shakes his head at his Lord's stupidity, "No one would even dare to touch her my lord, because they know that have to deal with the wrath of you and your army." Kahn answers back, completely disinterested in the matter in general.

Onaga inhales and calms his emotions, he realizes the rationality behind Kahn conclusions, "Very well then, tomorrow the Saurian will make its debut, and very soon we will have the chance to fulfill my promise I made to the Elder Gods, how is the development of your weapon coming along, I've heard it can withstand his fury."

Kahn sheath's the sword from the holster than lays across his back, he spins the massive sword in his hands and the massive potential of the sword causing the sword to emit a whistling noise as it spins, Kahn smiles, "Oh course my Lord, I would never disappoint you."


	7. Warriors

_Once again, thanks to everyone for the tremendous support on the piece, and my special thanks to __**IceFireFrenzy**__ for favoriting this story. _

_**As always I own none of the characters I'm about to use…because…because I just don't okay?**_

It is the second day of the Gathering Tournament, one hundred and twenty-two Pures died yesterday in the arena and sixty four more will die today. As customary with the Tournament the higher "seeded" Pures will fight first, since their matches will most likely end quickly and anti-climatically. As the day carries on the quality of fighter drops but the odds of a winner are more even making for a more exciting spectacle.

The first match of the day is between a Pure aptly named Monster and Outworld's Saurian. Argus signals the beginning of the fight but the Saurian is nowhere to be seen, murmurs in the crowd are heard, Pures who have championed the Saurian wonder if this was merely a trick by Outworld to get as many Pure's as possible to lose their powers so that they may invade them at the end of the Gathering.

Monster encircles the arena looking around starting up at Argus asking him to end the match by forfeit, but Argus shakes his head saying that the Saurian is in fact competing as he speaks. Almost instantly a mist flies through the air and lands all over Monster's face. Monster screams in agony as the corrosiveness of the material eats through his armor and works through to his skin. Eventually the mist starts to melt Monster's face and eventually Monster's dead corpse collapses in a slump to the ground. The Saurian reveals himself in the arena, and detaches himself from its golden walls. The audience stands and applauds the Saurian and the Saurian quietly exits the arena.

The Saurian's true realm of birth is in a newer gift realm called Zaterra. Zaterra to this day has not developed human life as Saurians still remain the most advanced species in the realm. The Gift Realm was created for a Queen of the God Tetsurri, however the Queen saw the primitive planet as not of something to protect but an entire realm that could be developed of species that would serve and worship her. As creatures started to develop on Zaterra the Queen created herself as the matriarch of the realm, in exchange for their worship and servitude to her, the creatures on Zaterra would receive a small amount of her essence, giving them unique mystical abilities. The species were so grateful to the Queen for sharing her "gifts" that the species of Zaterra worshipped her and loved her to the fullest. However because of the Queens lack of thoroughness the realm's species did not evolve in the typical way that many other realms evolve. Instead of the Saurians dying off and mammals ruling the planet until the human species developed, the mystical reptiles continued to rule the planet, eventually the reptiles developed human forms but they still kept their Saurian like features, scaly skin, sharp teeth, and nostrils instead of noses. The Queen became disgusted with the development of her species and forced them to be slaves or warriors to her husband instead. The Saurians became disgusted with her realizing that their matriarch was nothing but egotistical and vein. However they couldn't revolt against her because they would lose her essence and they all would revert back to their more reptilian ways. The Saurians began developing the abilities to morph and camoflauge their entire bodies to hide from King Tetsurri and his Queen.

Eventually Onaga and his immortal army invade Tetsurri's realm, he tried to force the Saurians to help fight the army but instead the Saurians all swore allegiance and bowed to Onagu, seeing him as their liberator rather than a warlord. Tetsurri was killed and his realm was destroyed, but for their loyalty Onagu kept the queen alive and gave the Queen to the Saurians as a gift of good faith. The Saurians imprison the queen and extract her essence from her to further develop their species. Instead of destroying Zaterra Onaga chooses to simply annex the realm and now sees them as a crucial ally to his empire. Eventually over time using the Queen essence to accelerate their development Zaterra is able to develop their first Pure, and now that Pure fights for Outworld in the Gathering Tournament.

As Monster's body is gathered up on a cart and wheeled out of the arena the next two competitors enter the arena. One is a massive individual who carries and axe and a spiked club and adorns himself in spiked armor, his face is covered in a black mask, as his dress fits he appropriately goes by the name Executioner.

The second Pure to enter the arena is Earthrealm's Liu Kang. The crowd murmurs at his diminutive presence compared to Executioner, some are even wondering whether or not the Elder Gods have stacked the deck against Liu Kang winning to prevent better odds of Onaga invading Earth. Argus signals the beginning of the battle and almost immediately Executioner charges at Liu Kang, he then spins his body at such a high rate that he becomes a human spinning blade. Liu Kang crouches himself and then launches into a flying kick over the top of the spinning blade and directly into the face of Executioner. The immense power of the kick knocks Executioner to the ground. The Executioner charges at Liu Kang once more but Liu Kang launches a fireball out of his hands and directly hits executioner. Executioner violently screams in agony and collapses to the ground turning into a charred corpse. Liu Kang kneels next to the dead Pure and bows to it paying the dead warrior his respects before he exits the arena.

Liu Kang was born in the year 1676 AD on Earthrealm in the Honan Provence of China. He was born into a family of poor laborers who worked as servants to the rich. Their family lived in a shanty town near a polluted river, the area was controlled by many crime organizations. His anger with his the hopelessness of his life causes his Pure capabilities to reveal itself as he was being attacked by a gang because his mother didn't have money to pay them. An exiled Shaolin Monk named Bo'Rai Cho sees this and realizes that he has accidentally discovered the Pure.

Bo'Rai Cho was exiled from the Shaolin Temple for his disrespect to Elder Monks and his excessive drunkenness. However he sees this opportunity to restore his place in the Temple so he buys Liu Kang away from the land owners, Liu Kang does not want to leave his family behind but his family insists that he must leave because he will certainly be killed because of his violence toward the gang members. Bo'Rai Cho knew that if he simply came to the temple with Liu Kang in hand they would see it as him bargaining himself back into the temple and he would further disgrace himself. So instead the two travel to another temple in Japan another temple that was hidden from the rest of society this temple was known as the Temple of the White Lotus. Knowing their rivalry with the Shaolin Monks the White Lotus gladly accept Bo'Rai Cho and the pure into their temple. For ten years the White Lotus Society honed Liu Kang's abilities, they soon also learn that much of Liu Kang's power comes in the form of a dragon, since the dragon is ultimate god of the Universe, Bo'Rai Cho and the White Lotus see this as a sign of a great destiny for Liu Kang.

Eventually the White Lotus cannot keep Liu Kang from Shaolin Monks forever and the monks eventually find Liu Kang. However as a deal made between Liu Kang and Bo'Rai Cho Liu Kang will not leave the White Lotus Society unless Bo'Rai Cho comes with him, without choice the Shaolin Monks accepted the pure as well as the return of their exiled monk.

Onaga enters Shao Kahn's quarters and smiles, "Your Reptile was impressive today, his eventual victory will allow his lizard race to expand to a pure realm, this will create an even greater allegiance to our cause."

"Liu Kang looked impressive as well." Kahn answers.

Onaga smiles, "I wouldn't worry about him, the Elder Gods will not allow him to be a victor for much longer."

_Looks like were around two or three more chapters before this story ends. I apologize for any errors I didn't have a ton of time to skim the piece, if you find anything confusing let me know and I will fix it. Till next time…._


	8. Confrontation

_So we are at the penultimate chapter of The Gathering, I am extremely grateful to everyone that has taken the time to read at least one chapter so far, and even more grateful to those that have commented, followed, and/or favorited this story so far._

_**As always I own none of these characters…but it would be pretty fun if I did.**_

Liu Kang sits in the center of the floor inside his chambers, his legs folded beneath him, his mind in a trance while he looks into his soul. His soul takes him back to his home in the Honan Provence. While his mentor Bo Rai' Cho allowed him to escape the horrible living conditions for his family, the rest of the family fights every day to remain alive, to be close enough to the high point of the river so that they want have to use the polluted sludge at the bottom point of the river, many times his family has failed to maintain their position and the Black Dragons the gang that controls his neighborhood would send them to the bottom of the hill, and death would soon follow.

He hasn't heard from his mother since his escape but he tries his best to connect with her through his mediations, there he sees his mother, still young and beautiful, without worry without bruises or scars from the hard labor of life. His mother smiles at him.

"My son," his mother calls to him.

"Yes mother."

"I sense through the souls of others that there is a desire for you to lose this tournament?"

"Yes mother, they are afraid that through my success I will ensure Onaga a second chance to destroy Earthrealm."

"Fear not of the existence of Earthrealm my son, for your struggles you faced here have prepared you for your destiny. Fate has a way of rewarding those that do good, you are a good man, and a better soul, you must stay true to yourself and worry less of what others think of you, and through this commitment to do good that you will achieve great power. Believe in your fate my son, believe in your destiny."

The image of his mother fades away and Liu Kang opens his eyes. He gets to his feet and allows the Shaolin Monk to escort him to the temple of the Elder Gods. For the past four days Liu Kang has quickly handled his opponents, must of his matches lasting just minutes. His speed and his quickness has allowed him to go through the last five days of the Tournament without receiving a single blow. Though now only eight Pures remain, and for the most part the other seven haven't been physically harmed either. As he enters every match the Elder Gods plead with him to bow to surrender himself in hopes that the opponent he bows to will be able to defeat Outworld's Saurian Pure, who not only hasn't been touched, he's barely been seen due to his camouflage abilities.

As he enters through the temple and into the arena, the Elder Gods that sit in the upper tier once again plead with Liu Kang to give himself up, especially with today's opponent. A sorcerer who's red essence has baffled all defenses so far. The red essence consumes the innards of the Pures and boils them inside out. Many believe that this Pure has the capabilities of defeating the Saurian, the other Pure that is believed to be able to have a chance against the Saurian is a massive Oni named Moloch, Liu Kang no doubts knows that if he is to defeat the sorcerer in this match, he will no doubt face the beast, since the beast is facing the weakest of the remaining eight in the match after him.

Before he makes his way inside the golden ring to fight his next opponent he sees the wooden cart wheeling out the most recent victim of The Saurian's corrosive mist, the Pure's face is entirely melted off blood pouring through the freed openings around his skull. Every day he has followed the Saurian and everyday he must observe the damage the Saurian has caused. Liu Kang has made sure that with each death that he prays and blesses the newly deceased since he does not want his mother's belief in fate to turn on him. Certainly fate would not reward an individual that chooses to kill their opponents disgustingly and painfully and then leave without giving the deceased the proper respect.

Liu Kang enters the arena, seated close to his entrance are all the Pures that have chosen him as their champion. Argus stands at his perch atop the upper level of the arena, he waits, he then glares at Raiden, Raiden simply shakes his head, Argus clenches his fist in anger before yelling, "Fight!"

Immediately upon Argus' commands the sorcerer starts to conger the red essence, Liu Kang however knows that if he cannot wait for the sorcerer to complete this task and immediately charges at him. He launches himself in the air and aims a flying kick to the sorcerer's ches, the speed at which he launches at the sorcerer causes a flame to admit from his leg, and he makes contact with the sorcerer's chest just before the red essence generates in his hands. The sorcerer cries out in pain as a giant flaming hole is not embedded into his chest. Liu Kang immediately yanks the sorcerer into the air, and then tosses a fireball into the same chest cavity, the fireball inserts within him mixing with the same destructive red essence, by the time the sorcerer reaches the ground his is nothing but a mixture of melted innards from the red essence inside of him, and burnt flesh from Liu Kang's fireball. Liu Kang bows his head and quickly says a prayer for the now deceased sorcerer before exiting the arena.

After the remaining matches conclude the realms once again retreat back to their temples. Raiden is meditating in his chambers when he is interrupted by Argus and his council or Elder Gods that serve him.

"Good evening my lord," Raiden smiles as sparks of light erupt out of the sockets of his eyes, "I apologize for not preparing your visit, if I knew that the Chief Elder was coming I would have prepared a feast."

Argus snarles at Raiden, "I thought being the son of an Edenian that you would be more intelligent than what you appear to be, stop the charade Raiden."

Raiden tilts his head, "I don't understand my Lord."

"Stop the games Raiden, Liu Kang will lose to Moloch the Oni or…"

"Earthrealm bows to no one."

"And you will see to that promise when you're dead! The Saurian will be able to easily defeat his opponent tomorrow, Liu Kang winning ensures…"

"I apologize for interrupting my Lord, but I know what The Saurian and Liu Kang in the final would ensure."

"Then tell me as Protector of Earthrealm, why don't you do your job and protect it!"

Raiden snarls and bursts of lightening shoot out of his hands, "Liu Kang will not bow."

Argus moves directly into the face of Raiden, "If Liu Kang wins then I will have no choice but the challenge you in Mortal Kombat."

"A Chief Elder using his right to override the Gathering truce just to give up his place to become a Protector, I find it highly doubtful that you would forfeit your place on Edenia, and do you really trust that the Elder Gods would bring you back? Do you and your council have as much support as you think you have? I don't have to tell you because you already know the answer to that."

Argus snarls once more and turns his back to Raiden, Raiden chuckles, "Just remember one thing Argus, you may have been alive longer than I have, but I am the son of an Edenian, don't believe for one second that I can't kill you." Argus silently turns again and makes his way out of the temple.

Liu Kang awaits his signal to enter the arena, once again a cart carrying the mutilated body of a Pure passes him. He enters the arena first, the Elder Gods stand up yelling at him to submit to Moloch, but he ignores him, his fate has told him that he is destined for great things and no one not even an Elder God can stop him. The large door swing open to the opposite end of the arena and a giant monster called an Oni enters. He releases a loud roar, this Oni, Moloch, his thick hyde is a bluish shade, his feet sprout five toes with giant metallic like nails piercing our of them. Each arm on his eight foot body is around the size of Liu Kang's body, four finger with sheath like metallic fingernails sprouting out of them. Three eyes appear on the top of the monster's massive demon head. His teeth also razor sharp and metallic create a clinking sounds when he grinds his teeth.

Argus stands up from his perch, his nostrils flaring, he waits and waits and when he sees that Liu Kang will not bow to Moloch, he screams in a rage before finally signaling the two to fight. Moloch upon the signal wastes little time and charges his diminutive opponent. Liu Kang still figuring out a strategy on how to defeat the monster dodges out of the way and moves quickly to the other side of the golden circle. Moloch growls and clenches razor sharp fingers into a fist, as he opens his fist a large metallic ball begins to form in his hands, he growls again and then hurls the ball at a breakneck speed in Liu Kang's direction, Liu Kang is once again able to dodge Moloch's attack, the ball strikes against the gold barrier of the arena blowing directly through the soft metal and embedding in the first level as some Protector's scurry to higher ground to avoid being struck. The Moloch is angered by Liu Kang's quickness and growls in frustration, he balls up his two fists and then repeatedly pounds them into the arena floor sending tremors across causing Liu Kang to fall on his back. Moloch launches at Liu Kang directing his sword like nails at Liu Kang, but once again Liu Kang is able to roll out of the way just before he lodges his fingers into the floor. With Moloch's fingers stuck in the floor Liu Kang quickly forms a fireball and hurls it at Moloch's face, the fireball hits Moloch square in his jaw but it does little to no damage, if anything it just annoys the monster more.

Moloch pulls his hand out of the ground and balls his fist once more forming another metallic ball in his hand, instead of throwing the ball this time he uses it as a blunt object and attempts to smash Liu Kang with it. Liu Kang using his quickness once again is able to dodge all of the attempted hammerings. Liu Kang is perplexed his Dragon Fire does not affect him due to Moloch's thick skin, and any attempted strike would be useless because of his enormous size. Liu Kang knows that he simply cannot keep dodging him forever because eventually he will tire out, and obviously if this Oni is as indestructible as he appears then his Protector would have put up a bigger promotion during his showcase. So Liu Kang knows there has to be a weakness, then suddenly it hits him right before he is about to take a giant metal globe to the face.

Liu Kang runs toward Molock and launches into his flying dragon kick, Moloch does not defend against the kick and instead opens his mouth so that he may bite Liu Kang and sever his legs, with mouth opened Liu Kang launches his dragon fire directly into Moloch's mouth. The soft tissue of his tongue comes in contact with the intense fire and his mouth starts to incinerate from within his head. The intense pain causes Moloch to fall to his knees, Moloch out of instinct tries to release a intense roar hoping that the energy released in this process would heal his wounds but by opening his mouth again Liu Kang hits him with more dragon fire. The fire then comes into contact with his molten liquid innards and his body burst into flames from the inside out. Now instead of his skin protecting him, it's sealing all the dragon fire and heat from within his body. Eventually his innards explode from all the intense heat and pressure and Moloch's dead body collapses to the ground.

The first sound that is heard is the sound of deep laughter coming from the second tier of the arena, Onaga stands up and looks down upon Liu Kang, "You fool!"

The Elder Gods disgusted by the fact that they can no longer control the fate of Earthrealm slowly exit their level, knowing that tomorrow that can only sit and be witnesses to the fall of Earthrealm.

Later on in a place far away from the torches that light the realm's night sky, Raiden approaches a figure standing alone in the darkness. He can see the spiked battle armor in the figure's silhouette and knows that he has found his brother.

"Ah my brother, how things have not changed, a Pure from Outworld versus a Pure from Earthrealm to decided the outcome of the tournament. How charming it is that you've actually brought a worthy opponent to the Tournament this year, your monk looked very impressive today."

Raiden snarls at Kahn's tone, "Your Pure is weak, he only wins because his opponents cannot see him, does your Saurian have the ability to fight once that power becomes useless?"

Kahn chuckles, "I guess we will have to find out and see if your monk can find him, if he can't it won't really matter, it certainly will be the testament to the match."

Raiden shakes his head, "I did not come here to talk to you about tomorrow's match, I'm here to talk about what happens afterwards."

Kahn chuckles once more, "Oh why my brother do you always insist on talking business with me can we just for once have a casual talk?"

"That would be highly foolish of me, since the realm that most reflects the greatness of the Universe will most likely be destroyed tomorrow."

Even in the darkness Raiden can see Kahn lips move upward into a smile, "My dear brother tomorrow there will be many fools."

_The next chapter will conclude this story…let me know what you think._


	9. The Final

_ I apologize for such a long wait on this last chapter of MK: The Gathering. My job started up again and I couldn't find enough time to get to work on this chapter. There already is enough material that I have outlined out for a sequel to this story, although the framework is a lot different than this one. I would just like to finally say thank you to everyone who has read, commented, followed, or favorite this story, all of those actions motivate me to put the best product for everyone to see._

_So without further ado…The Finale to Mortal Kombat: The Gathering_

_**As always I do not own any characters I'm about to use….because that would be awesome.**_

For the last time all of everyone takes their place in the golden arena of the Elder Gods. The Pures and Protectors take their place on the lower level, the Gods taking their place on the middle level, and the Elder Gods on the upper level. The Saurion enters first his camouflage already making him invisible to everyone. Shortly afterwards Liu Kang enters the arena, he finds it unusual not to see at deteriorating corpse being carted out before he enters, it's further confirmation to him that he has reached the final match.

Liu Kang enters the golden circle and Argus stands up from his perch, the same glaring look that has adorned his face throughout the Gathering is gone, it is now a look of resentment, resentment that Liu Kang refused to bow to anyone ensuring that Onaga will get his wish of destroying Earthrealm without interference from the Elder Gods. Many thought that Molloch could have been able to withstand the corrosive mist due to his thick hide. Instead the Saurian has a thin skinned human to deal with instead.

Argus raises his hand and without much emotion signals the beginning of the fight. The Saurian looking for a quick victory, shoots his mists at Liu Kang but Liu Kang's quick reflexes allow him to dodge the projectile, the arena gasps seeing that this is the first time the Saurian has missed while being invisible. Liu Kang fires a ball of flame in the direction of the mist but the ball instead strikes against the golden walls of the arena signaling that the Saurian has already found a new hiding spot. Instead of searching for the Saurian, Liu Kang closes his eyes and concentrates by taking deep breaths, soon his chest begins to light, inside of him, an small flame encircles his heart.

The first time Liu Kang showed this ability to harness fire inside of his body like a dragon was during his training at the White Lotus Society. Bo'Rai Cho thought that Liu Kang was dying but instead noticed that it gave Liu Kang heightened senses and immense physical power. Bo'Rai Cho and the others immediately bowed to the young boy realizing that the power with this Pure is clearly stronger than all the Pures before him.

Liu Kang's hybrid transformation as half human-half dragon continues his eyes begin to reshape into the oval shape, his pupils turn into a deep red, while his irises begin to transform into a golden yellow. The fire within his beastly transformation begins to escape his skin turning his body into a flaming mass. He uses these new senses to feel the presence of the Saurian as he grabs him by the arm and rips him off the ground. The Saurian screams in agony as much of his scaly skin is charred on his right side. With the Saurian realizing that his advantage has been taken away from him unleashes an arsenal of green mist the encompases much of the fighting area. Liu Kang uses his powers to leap over the green mist and he delivers a flaming dragon kick to the Saurian. The Saurian is now badly wounded his chest as a foot size hole in it and his entire right side of his body is burned. The Saurian knows that he cannot compete with Liu Kang's powers, the Saurian simply bows his head and submits his fate. Liu Kang nods to the Saurian before unleashing a fireball though Reptile's chest killing him instantly and as painfully as possible.

"Impressive," Onaga stands and applauds.

The Pures that championed the Saurian are in shock and many begin to tear as they feel the essences in their bodies that give them their power fade away. Argus in a ceremonial fashion rises his out of his seat, "I declare Liu Kang of Earthrealm the winner of The Tournament, for your victory you are now Protector of this new realm and your organs in your body will stop since you are now immortal, they will reactivate upon your activity in Mortal Kombat, congratulations Liu Kang."

Liu Kang nods while the rest of those in attendance ceremonially clap knowing that he will probably only be Protector for a few minutes.

"Onaga, you are the God of Earthrealm, under the rules you are granted one unconditional request."

Onaga stands from his seat, "My unconditional request is to invade Earthrealm."

The Audience bows their heads knowing the fate was coming, that Onaga's promise will finally come true.

Raiden stands from his seat in the lower level, "Than I have no choice but to challenge Onaga to Mortal Kombat."

"Yes Protector Raiden, and you will compete in Mortal Kombat against Protector Shao Kahn, and my army, if you refuse than I will simply destroy the realm until you are weakened."

Raiden's eyes flicker with light, "I accept your terms."

Onaga laughs, "Than I accept your challenge."

Raiden, Onaga, and Kahn all feels their essence within them energize as their organs in their body reactivate signaling to them that they are mortal. A massive portal opens in the skies of the new realm as millions of soldiers of the Immortal Army descend upon the realm. The shear mass of beings cover the region as far as anyone could see. The Elder Gods start to quiver in fear at the mass numbers encircling them while Kratos remains as stoic and unemotional as he has been during the entire Gathering.

Raiden and Onaga enter the golden circle, The Saurian's dead body still lays as a mass upon the floor. The two looks at each other eye to eye, Onaga begins to smile, "Kahn hand me the sword." Kahn unsheathes the sword and with his great physical power he holds the sword perpendicular to Onaga, Kahn then unleashes a small chuckle before burying the sword through Onaga's back and out his chest. The crowd surrounding them in the arena gasp at the betrayal. Onaga now feeling pain for the first time since he fought in the tournament screams in agony, his essence and his powers with it get absorbed into the sword until Onaga is nothing but a lifeless corpse. Kahn pulls the sword out of Onaga's dead body, the immortal heart made from Shinook's sorcery still pumping while being punctured by the sword. Kahn engulfs the hear whole absorbing the resurrection power into his essence.

With Onaga's death, Raiden wins the challenge, Kahn looks up at Kratos, Kratos nods acknowledging the deal between them is finalized. With his newly stolen powers Kahn resurrects the Saurian from the dead, Kahn turns to Shang Tsung who approaches next to him, "Consider this a present for becoming the new Protector of Outworld."

Tsung smiles just before reaping the Saurian's soul killing the Saurian a second time, Kahn then revives the Saurian once more making the Saurian a soulless servant to Sheng Tsung.

"What is your name Saurian?" Tseng asks.

"Saurian's don't have names master," the Saurian responds.

Tseng smiles, "Then as a gift to you I shall give you the name…Reptile."

Reptile bows, "Thank you master."

The Gathering has ended as one by one portals from various realms reopen sending those back to their home realms, a guardsmen of the Elder Gods watches over any Pure that lost their powers for not championing Liu Kang. Finally the last portal opens as the golden temple of Edenia ascends back to its realm. All is left of the new realm is the now abandoned temples, the flickering light of their torches, and Liu Kang the new Tournament champion.

_And that concludes MK: The Gathering, I will be taking a small break to get other writing projects going but as I said earlier a sequel is already in the mix to be ready for that. In the meantime my Arrow piece "Hunting Party" will still be continuing so give that a look if you're interested. Thanks to everyone again, and I will return to the MK universe soon._


End file.
